Australian Trachoma Surveillance Report 2021
Trachoma is an eye infection caused by serotypes of the Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria, which continues to be the world’s leading cause of infectious, preventable blindness and the fifth leading cause of blindness. Australia is the only high‑income country where trachoma is still endemic. It occurs primarily in remote and very remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory (NT), South Australia (SA) and Western Australia (WA). In 2008, cases were also found in New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (QLD), states where trachoma was believed to have been eliminated.